Anti-Human
by SUGARCOMACUPCAKE
Summary: Armin and Jean mysteriously become new members of the 104th Trainee Cadet Squad. There's something a bit off about them, but Eren won't let it get in the way of his goal; the wings of freedom. However, nobody could have guessed the sudden spiral out of control started because of those stupid crystals.
1. Chapter 1

The rough fabric binding my hands chafes my skin. It feels like sandpaper scratching it raw. I ignore this, however, and instead choose to flick my wrists back and forth in a spastic, rhythmic fashion. A sly smirk forms on my face when I've found the angle that makes that irritating clicking noise. I'm shoved in the back by the butt of one of their guns. A low growl escapes my throat, though I hold back my instincts. Annoyance is better than violence at the moment anyways. That's not to say I like it here. In fact it's quite the opposite. The murky smell of sweat and mildew nauseates me to an extent. After what seems like forever, one of the men guiding me pulls a rusty key from their pocket and unlocks the cell door. It looks so old and worn I'm honestly surprised it didn't break.

"We've got a friend for you. Seems you have a lot in common."

How dare they mock me? A brief moment of relief is given to me when my hands are finally untied. The barred door opens with a blatant creaking. It hurts my ears. I'm quite literally kicked inside and the door is locked behind me.

"Bastards…"

The two men return down the hall, probably planning to let us rot. I stand and dust myself off. I turn my attention to my new "friend."

"Hello, Jean."

His eyes move from the floor to my face. He's sitting on the small bench in the corner of the room. He looks stiff and extremely bored, as if he'd been there for quite a while. I flash him a toothy grin.

"Armin? What the heck are you doing here?"

"You're not scared of me?"

Jean raises an eyebrow. I roll my eyes, grabbing a fistful of my hair, holding it up, and turning around. Now that he can see the back of my neck, I can almost feel his sudden expression of horror. I hold back a manic chuckle.

"N-no way…"

"You didn't smell it or even notice it? Pft, no wonder you got caught so soon."

"Shut up."

This time I release my somewhat deranged laughter. I grab my wrist, hold my arms over my head and slightly lean backwards. This emits a series of pops coming from throughout my spine. Jean is silent, most likely due to his small amount of pride being crushed.

"Anyway, I don't know about you, but I really hate this place."

"I'm not fond of it."

"Good. Which sounds more fun; burning the place or massacring everyone?"

I plop down next to him. Jean sits up, holding his hands out almost defensively.

"Woah, first of all, I think you have some explaining to do. Second, don't you think that'll draw too much attention?"

"I'll explain later. And nobody knows about this place anyway. It's out in the middle of nowhere for the purpose of not drawing attention. If we get rid of it, we'll be heroes. To the military police at least."

He puts his hands down, but he's obviously still doubting my decision. Not that I care.

"Why not do both?"

Another psychopathic smile surfaces. I giggle for a while. I don't pay any attention to how creeped out Jean looks.

"I don't think I've ever heard a better idea from you."

"This really isn't like you, Armin."

_I'm scaring him. Perfect._

"Well, I've changed. You ready?"

"Yeah."

I extend my nails to around the size of your average blade. Jean follows suit and we use the new appendages to cut through the bars. As the broken pieces fall to the ground, they make a loud sound. This catches the attention of the guard down the hall. He comes running and I'm more than prepared.

"Jean, get the gun."

He follows my command, grabbing the man's gun and slicing it. The guy gazes at us, dumbstruck, terrified. I grab him by his neck and slit his throat in one swift movement. I push his body to the ground. It's already accumulating a fair amount of blood. We continue through the hallway, preparing to complete our mission. As we run, Jean asks a simple question.

"What the heck happened to you?"

_(Insert transition here)_

The blue crystals ensconced in Sasha's hand seem to crumble at every slight movement of her fingers. I'm surprised; I don't think a single speck has fallen to the ground. My fascination, however, isn't enough to subdue the boiling anger building in my chest.

"Sasha, stealing food is one thing, but this could get you arrested or even executed!"

Mikasa simply nods in disapproval.

"I know! Isn't it exciting?"

To be completely honest, yes. It is exciting. I've wanted to do this for my entire life. But now is not the time.

"No!"

"C'mon, they won't miss one little handful, will they?"

"Yes, actually they will! You know how dangerous and not to mention scarce that stuff is!"

I sigh. Ever since the fall of wall Maria, nobody except Mikasa and I seem to realize how valuable that stuff is. It's the very essence of the scouting legion. It gives someone the wings of freedom. Well, temporarily. Allow me to explain a few things. Before it fell, Maria was where all of this stuff was produced. It simply had all of the right resources. Now, it's considered more valuable than gold. Cadets need it for training, but camps are lucky if there's even close to enough to go around. Rose creates the pink crystals for defensive magic while the military police creates green crystals for offensive magic. We'll practice with each at some point, but probably not until the last year we're here. Now Sasha's somehow managed to get a hold of some and we're all silently jealous.

"There's nothing I can do about it now."

She shrugs.

"We should all meet in the forest tonight and test these babies out!"

All of us are dying to say yes.

"That's a stupid idea."

Annie interjects. She's not wrong.

"You're not going to snitch on me, are you Annie?"

"No."

We all considered that our silent agreement to meet.

Classes that day taught us how the systems work. Now that Maria has fallen, people graduating from the cadets get to choose what to join. Before, you joined whatever regiment you belonged to. People from Maria joined the scouting legion. Rose joined the garrison. Sina joined the military police. It was fairly simple. The crystals themselves, when consumed, do temporarily give you certain abilities. However, they're mainly used for blades. It's been found that a blade consisting of green and pink crystals can kill a titan if you slice the nape of their neck. When we graduate, a mage will give permanent power to people of their chosen regiment. Scouts get wings, Garrison gets defensive magic and Military gets offensive magic. Fairly simple. Not just anybody can join the military police, though. Offensive magic is the hardest to control. Only people who are excellent at all three can join. In other words, the top ten of your class. I'm joining the scouting regiment though, despite everyone's disapproval. Most people who join the scouting regiment die, yes. But I think death is better than living behind these walls.

**A/N: Who else loves insane Armin? I guess I should mention this is an AU. I don't own the cover art, it's by carbonandotherstuff on deviantart. I also don't own Shingeki no Kyojin. Reviews are encouraged and appreciated! Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

That night, all of our nerves pulsing, we do as we said we would and meet in the forest. It's no surprise that Sasha's there early, watching the crystals in her hand like a hawk, as if they could disappear at any moment. Mikasa had, how do I put it, strongly advised (threatened) me not to do this. Why shouldn't I? Everyone else is doing it, though that's not an excuse. Besides, I'm not going to be the chicken who didn't show up because his sister told him not to go. That, however, meant that she would make us the last ones to show up. It also meant that she was coming with me, probably to embarrass me.

"It's about time you got here, Jaeger."

Reiner calls me out, his arms crossed and a smug look on his face. Why does nobody ever mention Mikasa? Oh yeah. They're scared of her.

"Whatever! Are you guys ready for this?"

I can tell Sasha's bubbling with excitement. I am too, but I'm hoping it's just internal. Slowly but surely she hands a few crystals to all of us. They feel so rough but strangely fragile. My hands are slightly shaking. Everyone shares a nod and we place them into our mouths. They don't have any flavor, but the texture of rock salt. It's not too pleasant, but that's not the only reason I'm reluctant to swallow. Finally I do, and almost instantly I feel funny. Every muscle in my body feels like it's throbbing; especially the ones in my back. I look to everyone else, and they seem to be experiencing something similar. Suddenly, I feel something sprouting; that's really the only way I can describe it. All of us mumble something along the lines of,

"Woah... "

I close my eyes, waiting for it to be over. Not that's it's painful, but it definitely doesn't feel good. A puft of sound makes me open my eyes. My jaw drops slightly. I'm not sure why, this was the expected result. Everyone around me has wings.

"This is so awesome!"

Connie breaks the silence and high-fives Sasha.

"You guys wanna race?"

"Guys, don't do anything too reckless!"

"C'mon, we might as well if we're here!"

Muffled sounds of everyone arguing fill my ears while I stay silent for once. Eventually we conclude that we're going to race, for whatever reason. There's no doubt in my mind that it'll be fun, but nobody can deny that this is really risky. One mess up and we're all going to face dire consequences. However, the thrill of it all sends adrenalin through my veins. Our group trails deeper into the woods, trying to deter our chances of getting caught. Satisfied, we all get into starting positions.

"Ready?"

"Go!"

With a shout, we all jump into the air. I'm shocked that it feels like we already know how to do this. Maybe the crystals give you knowledge as well. Before I can get used to the feeling, Sasha's already flying over and under branches.

"Woo hoo! You can't beat me!"

"We'll see about that!"

Reiner yells. They take off, followed by Jean and Connie. I growl in anticipation; I can totally win this.

"Eren."

"C'mon Mikasa, please?"

"I'm staying with you."

"If you can!"

I challenge, just as she zooms like twenty feet ahead of me. I blink.

"Aren't you coming, Eren?"

Am I the only one who thinks Mikasa's been sassier lately? I grit my teeth and try to catch up with her, to no avail. Tonight's going to be a long one.

Sasha is having way too much fun with this, soaring under and around tree branches. More than once we've had to warn her to stay beneath the trees to decrease our chances of getting caught. After a while, all tension fades. Even Marco and Bertholdt are having a blast. I love this feeling; the wind blowing through my hair, just the sensation of my wings spreading through the cool breeze. Our attempts to contain our laughs of glee are pointless. We reach the end of the forest, when Marco finally says something.

"Hey guys, we should probably walk back just to be safe. The crystals will wear off soon."

Another silent agreement between us results in us walking back. Sure, we'll be extra tired tomorrow, but that was totally worth it! Mikasa still has an unapproving expression, but who cares what she thinks? We didn't get caught, and now I'm even more psyched than ever to join the scouting legion.

_(Insert transition here)_

When everyone was called to the classroom, all of us feared the worst.

_Oh no, we got caught, this is bad._

Even Sasha looks frightened, though that didn't stop her from eating breakfast. She even ate everyone else's meals considering we were all too scared to even think about food.

"Well, if I'm going to die, might as well might my last meal a big one."

She mumbled, it sounding odd without her usual spark of humor. Every last one of us tense, we trudge into the classroom. Sitting in our seats, we await our appending doom quite literally like prisoners awaiting execution.

"Alright, maggots. I'm required to introduce two new titan snacks here today who've transferred from who cares where."

It's then when I notice two people standing beside Shadis. One of them is shorter with chin-length blond hair. The other is taller, with a longish face and copper-blonde locks.

"Well, who the heck are you?"

The blond gulps and speaks up. His voice is a bit small, but clear.

"I'm Armin Arlert, sir."

"What about you?"

"I'm Jean Kirschtein, sir."

The two sit down in empty seats, Jean sitting in the middle by Marco and Armin sitting by Mikasa who's beside me. Heavenly bliss wraps around us as we realize we're safe. I look back to Marco and he's already started a conversation with Jean. I almost smile, simply because Marco is so nice that he has that effect on people. Turning to Armin, I notice he's already waving shyly.

"Hi."

"Hi, I'm Eren."

I grin and awkwardly shake his hand. I gesture towards Mikasa.

"This is Mikasa."

"Oh, nice to meet you."

As he speaks, I only wonder why someone seeming so nice, frail and innocent joined the military. I glance to Annie who's sitting on the other side of me, and notice she's gripping her wrist under the table.


	3. Chapter 3

(Armin's POV)

The military sucks, to be frank. Sheesh, what's wrong with these humans? Is all of this really necessary? I sigh. Though this human had been in shape before, I'm not used to this body type. This leaves me panting and struggling to finish these strange exercise routines they call training. One thing humans have done right, however, is books. There's something so fascinating about them all being able to interpret these marks into something that makes sense, even to me. Jean's not much help either; he's getting too close to that Marco guy for comfort. I'll have to talk to him about that later. Eren and Mikasa seem to have taken a liking to me, which I appreciate. I at least have someone to talk to and learn from.

I've come up with my story. I lived in a village in the mountains within wall Maria, my parents had died when I was young and I moved in with my grandfather. He died during the evacuation when the wall was breached. I joined the military to avenge him, being transferred here simply because the training grounds closest to me were full. Jean and I used to know each other, explaining why I talk to him so much. Not that I enjoy speaking with him, but it's extremely vital that he doesn't lose focus.

In order to escape it all, I'd more than occasionally visit the camp's library. Not only could this be relaxing, but I could discover more about the human mind works. I'd thought I'd finally worked out a routine and that everything I've planned was foolproof, but of course I would be proven wrong.

"You."

I hear a female voice call to me while my nose is in a book. I jump from the sudden noise and look at her, only to see Annie.

"O-oh, hi Annie."

Did I mention that I've created this sweet, innocent facade? It matches my athletic performance and makes me much less suspicious.

"Armin, do you remember me?"

I silently curse at myself. What are the chances of someone who knew Armin being here of all places?

"Y-you mean from training? Of course I-"

"Shut up. You know what I mean."

I take a deep breath.

"Well then, no? Should I?"

I try my very best to act confused.

"Don't pull that bullcrap on me. I know it's you."

"I-I'm sorry, you must be mistaking me for someone else."

"I'm not mistaking you. Why aren't you dead?"

"E-excuse me?"

"Why can't you tell me what happened?"

"Annie, I'm sorry, but I really think-"

She grabs my arm, unsurprisingly in one swift movement, and pulls up the sleeve of my jacket. I don't struggle, there's no point. This chick has superhuman strength or something.

"There. Proof."

She points to a scar on my upper arm.

"What? That's just from when I was younger and-"

"Exactly. I know how you got it."

"Please do explain."

My disguise is slowly wearing away. I need to get myself together.

"We were training and you got cut by a piece of equipment."

"That's not how I got this scar."

I have to think quickly.

"I, uh… got attacked. By a dog."

"You said you were from a village up in the mountains, right?"

"Y-yes."

There I go. It's coming back. At least the stutter is.

"They don't have dogs up there. They're useless on the mountainous terrain."

"I was visiting-"

"You're lying. Now fess up."

"I'm sorry, I need to go…"

I manage to pull myself away from her grasp and dash out. This whole thing just got a lot more difficult. I grin and giggle to myself. This was getting pretty boring, now I have something watching me, and it feels like a rush.

_(Insert transition here)_

(Jean's POV)

"Armin, what are-"

"Ugh…"

His small figure flops onto my bed almost lifelessly.

"These humans are so weird… and annoying… I'm surprised I haven't pulled my hair out yet."

"They're not that bad."

"And that's another thing, their hair, why do they care about it so much? It's dead cells growing from your head! It's disgusting! I'm only keeping mine to hide my neck…"

"What about Connie?"

"Maybe he has some sense, though that's unlikely."

He rolls around, his face now buried into my pillow.

"You actually know his name?"

The meek, muffled voice emerges.

"Well, yeah. We're in the same classes, and he-"

"Just… nevermind."

Armin sits up once again, now looking me dead in the eye, almost a glare.

"I'm starving."

"Their food's not enough for you?"

"Of course not! You're a halfer, so you can handle it."

He rolls his too-innocent-for-this-attitude blue eyes.

"What do you want me to-"

"Give me your arm, idiot."

I grimace. I know what he's suggesting, and it's not pleasant.

"But that feels weird."

"You think I care?"

Knowing that refusing him would be a horrible idea, I comply and hand over my arm. With a glint in his expression, he grabs the offered appendage. He parts his lips just enough for me to be able to see his teeth sharpen. When he finally bites down into my flesh, I cry out.

"Agh! It hurts for humans…"

He pulls away with a look of disgust. I can see my blood staining his teeth.

"It tastes gross."

"You're the one who wanted it."

"It'll have to do though."

Armin bites again, and I swear this time he intentionally made it more painful.

"Ow, sheesh Armin, I'm sorry!"

With rare sympathy, he softens his jaw's grip. Closing him eyes, he moans softly. It suddenly hits me that if someone were to walk in, this would be hard to explain. That worry diminishes when he releases.

"I'm full now."

His eyes still heavy, his teeth retract and he licks the last of the red from his mouth.

"How am I supposed to explain bite marks on my arm?"

"That's your problem."

He yawns.

"Just be glad I didn't bite anywhere else. Apparently humans see that in a different light."

"What do you mean?"

"Let's just say some of those books in the library are disgusting."

"Ok?"

"Oh, Jean? I'm sleeping here."

"Why?"

"I'm too tired to move. And I need to talk to you about Marco tomorrow."

"Marco?"

Something pangs in my chest, and before I can question further the blond's asleep.


End file.
